PORTLAND, Maine – The city has been touting its recent efforts to combat homelessness, but some say the problem remains serious and is about to get worse. In November, the City Council adopted the recommendations of a task force it appointed to come up with ideas for reducing and preventing homelessness. The recommendations included centralizing … Read more
Preble Street Resource Center, which has been helping low-income residents at its Portland location since the 1970s, landed a $1.7 million U.S. Veterans Affairs grant Thursday to expand its program for homeless veterans from Portland to the entire state. Mark Swann, Preble Street’s executive director, said the federal grant will help the group serve about … Read more
PORTLAND (WGME) — The Maine State Fire Marshals Office has identified the homeless man killed in a fire late Saturday night as 53-year-old Brian Barbour. Investigators believe a candle in Barbour’s tent along West Commercial Street started the fire. An autopsy shows Barbour died from smoke inhalation. The fire started around 11:30 Saturday night. A … Read more
PORTLAND, Maine – If it appears that you are seeing more panhandlers on Portland’s city streets these days, officials at the Preble Street Resource Center say you are. Working with police and the United Way, the center is about to launch a study to find out what has caused the sudden influx and what they … Read more
PORTLAND – The city’s Health and Human Services Department is recommending that Portland establish housing where homeless people can stay sober, develop a team of specialists to help the homeless find housing and hire more workers to interview people who enter shelters. That action plan, to be presented Tuesday night to the City Council’s Public … Read more
PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — A week of bitter cold has led to busy homeless shelters, as staff in shelters across Portland open overflow spaces and break records for occupancy and meals served. Staff at both Preble Street and the Oxford Street Shelter said they will not be turning anyone away, but they do need … Read more
PORTLAND – The weather turned dangerously cold Thursday, so cold that the Salvation Army opened a shelter, the governor declared a limited emergency to allow heating oil companies to make more deliveries, and Portland officials asked the public to donate blankets and clothing for the homeless. The city hit a low of 4 degrees below … Read more
Charles Jones sleeps every night in the Oxford Street Shelter’s "medical dorm," so called because the room is reserved for up to 16 men in poor health. He’s 55 years old, the average age of the men in the room. They’re allowed inside the shelter a half-hour early, so they can avoid the long lines … Read more
Viola Silver, who turns 90 in May, spent two weeks in December at Maine Medical Center being treated for pneumonia and a lung infection. When the hospital discharged her, she says, it paid a cab to take her home – to the Oxford Street Shelter. "You have to thank God you have a place to … Read more
PORTLAND, Maine – The homeless population in Portland is swelling, with nearly 25 percent more people seeking shelter this fall than even the historically high numbers seen a year ago. That increase and the expectation by Portland Department of Health and Human Services leaders that the numbers will continue to climb well into 2013 are … Read more
